Social media presence is no longer an option for companies; it’s a necessity because the general public uses social media networks to review brands and choose the providers they purchase from. Almost all demographics are active across social networks (important to note that different groups prefer different platforms), so brands have to identify their ideal client and engage them on their preferred medium.
A strong social media presence can boost a brand’s performance and help it stand out in a highly competitive atmosphere. The more prospects know about a brand’s existence, the higher the chances to sell products. According to statistics, 4.80 billion people use social media. With such a staggering number, it’s no surprise that social media can make a brand get seen, regardless of its sector. And more importantly, when the right social media marketing strategies are employed, brand performance levels spike.
Why is it beneficial for a brand to have a well-put-together social media strategy?
One of your social media posts might go viral. One-time success is achievable online, but staying consistent is quite challenging. You must understand how social media platforms can serve your brand performance to invest the necessary resources into social media marketing.
It’s pretty daunting to put together a social media marketing campaign, but it’s worth the effort because it provides several benefits:
- It boosts brand performance
- It offers a direction for your online activities
- It enhances customer targeting
- It improves website traffic
- It enables you to personalize content
- It promotes content that could go viral
- It improves the quality of customer support and service
- It provides you with data you can analyze and measure
- It boosts the chances of getting your products sold online
To gain all the benefits social media marketing offers and improve your brand performance, employ the following strategies.
Research the market
As mentioned earlier, different demographics use different social media channels, and you need to connect with your target customers via their preferred network. However, it’s challenging to predict what platform they use, without researching the market.
To get started, hire a team of market research specialists because they’re specialized in identifying the social media mediums the public prefers and tracking the performance of brands when they start new marketing campaigns. Depending on your sector, you might have to be picky with the platform choice because the chances are for your public to use one more than the others.
Research helps you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of all social media platforms and identify the one where you can build an active community. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest are the most popular social media platforms.
Use influencers
According to statistics, 61% of customers have purchased services or products because one of the influencers they follow on social media promoted them. Someone becomes an influencer after they grow a huge following on a social media platform, so your brand would benefit greatly if it collaborates with someone influential in your sector because it would reach a broader audience.
Hiring an influencer to review your products and present the public with their opinions regarding your services makes sense. Influencers can increase a brand’s performance online because they would grow awareness around the company.
You can also work with a brand ambassador agency to put you in touch with personalities who could increase your brand awareness. Influencers and brand ambassadors make it easier to enter new markets and reach new customers because they already have followers who trust their expertise.
Respond to feedback
Unsurprisingly, customers are ready to hold the brand they do business with accountable for any shortcomings via social media platforms. They also love to share positive reviews when they are satisfied with the quality of the products they purchase. Paying attention and responding to any kind of feedback is up to you. It would help if you answered all comments, regardless of the content, to show that your brand is humane and you care about your clients’ opinions.
Besides, social media is called this for a reason; it should be social. Therefore, you should initiate conversations, engage with your followers, post content regularly, and encourage users to comment and share.
You’ll gain more followers and increase customer satisfaction by being active and responding to feedback.
Use different strategies for each social media platform
Only because your audience prefers a particular social media platform, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t create profiles and post on others. However, make sure you don’t share the same post across all platforms, even if Facebook and Instagram give you the option to post on both the same content. A smart move would be to customize the content according to the specific audience.
Let’s not forget that each platform promotes a different type of content. So, if visuals with short descriptions work best for Instagram, longer posts with minimal visuals are ideal for LinkedIn.
Collaborate with related brands
Improving your brand performance implies using all available means to reach a broader audience and retain more customers. Therefore, collaborating with brands in your sector and sharing it on social media will help you reach new clients.
However, it doesn’t mean that you should work with your competitors. Get in touch with brands that provide services complementary to yours and help each other grow your audiences.
Create a strong brand voice
An effective way to use social media to your advantage and boost performance is to create a strong brand voice the public can easily recognize. Once you identify your values and brand voice, ensure you highlight them through all posts.
Before developing a brand voice, make sure you understand who your ideal client is, so you can resonate with them. Suppose you sell a broader range of services that address different demographics, and create different brand personas, which function as fictional representations of your target audience.
Key takeaways
Using social media to improve brand performance works only if you employ the right strategies. Make sure everything you post online amplifies your brand values and enables you to grow your customer base.
